Electric air heater



Jan. 22, 1929.

A. J. KERCHER ET AL ELECTRIC AIR HEATER Filed Sept. 16. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 N YEN TDRS WIY/Ibrrr Wes/g! Hicks Mad- 4 rranwtns Patented den-22,1929. I 1 1,699,739

UNITED STATES PATE OFFICE.

Amman. .1. manna, or BERKELEY, AND WILLIAM WESLEY areas, or SAN FRAN- cxsco, canni'omim.

ELECTRIC AIR HEATER.

Application filed September 16,1926. Serial 1T0. 185,927.

This invention relates generally to elec-. heating element. Thus referring to the trical devices for heating'air within a room. drawings there is shown a register 10 in the In permanently installing electrical air form of a foraminated grill located flush heating equipment for domestic purpose it with the wall 11- of a room to be heated.

5 has been customary to employ either a heater Located a substantial distance below the 60 of the wall type such as discloseda-in the floor 12 of'the room there is a housing 13 patent to W. WV. Hicks, No. 1,518,067, or a -which is adapted to 'inclose one or more floor type heater such as disclosed in the electrical heating elements 14. The housing a; patent to Kercher and Hicks,- No. 1,534,221. 13 for exam 1e maybe supported upon the' 1 When these heatersare installed subsequent floor 15 of the basement below the room to' to the erection of a building, material albe heated[ 7 terations are required and inconvenience is Currents of air from the room are circuoften experienced in providing wiring which lated through the housing 13 through the will carry the relatively heavy current load. use of afsuitable conduit 17 which connects 1 It is one obj ect of this invention to devise the register with the housing "13. In or- 70 a novel form of electric air heater which der to separate the upwardly moving cur-' may be readily installed in a room in place rent of air from the downwardly moving of a hot air heating system of the fuel burncool current the conduit 17 "is constructed in yP 1 to provide a plurality of passageways. For

it is a further object 'of this invention to example, there is shown an inner pipe 18 75 devise an air heater in which the air of the within the conduit 17 to provide an inner room is continuously circulated into contact passageway 19 for an upwardly moving air with electrical heating elements but which current and an outer passageway 20 for a is constructed in such aimanner as to permit downwardly moving air i current. The heatpositioning of the heater elements a substaning element 14 is associated with the lower so tial distance below the floor of the room. portion of the passageway 19 in such a man- Further. objects of the invention will apner as to receive air drawn downwardly pear from the following description in through the passageway 20, and after heatwhich we have set forth the preferred 'emin the same, to discharge the heated air odimcnt f r invention I i be 111 into the lower portion of the inner passagci derstood that the scope of the invention is way 19. to be determined from the appended claims -The particular construction of the housand the state of the prior art. ing 13 shown in Fig. 1 comprises an outer Referring to the drawings: Y shell 22 having an open front 23 anda for- 35 Figure 1 is a cross sectional elevational dl t d g t wal124. Within this View Showing an ailfiheatel' Constructed 1n outer shell there is an inner and substanaccol'da-ilce w this invention tially smaller shell 26 which s s milarly Fig 2 is a View Simiiai to g- 1 showmg provided with a forwardly extending top a modified construction of air heater. ll 27 Th upper forward edges of the g- 3 is Cross Sectional View similar t walls 24 and 27 are secured respectively to 95 1 showing 3 further inodificatlonthe corresponding edges of conduit 17 and v The invention comprisesgencrally the use i 18 h b a portion of passageway 20 all a heating eiemeni iociiiei a is continued to passageway 28 formed by the substantial distance below the iiooi' of ii spaced relationship of shells 22 and 26.

mom to be heated- An air -P The heating element 14 has been shown as Vided Wan iiOOl' 0f the room and being mounted uponthe bottom shelf 29 of is connected with the heating element y the inner shell 26 and may beconstructed means of a plurality p y 0110 for example in the form of a hollow refracpassagewav serving to conduct heated air tory core 30 having wound upon its periphfrom. the heating element to the room and cry a suitable resistance conductor '31. A another passageway serving to conduct an. heating element of this sort forms a flue 3 2 induced downwardly moving draft of' cool for convection currents of air and in this emai from the room to the heating element. particular case the flue 32 is in co'mmunicw In this way air within the room is contion with the air below. the shelf 29, this n 55 tinuously circulated ,into contact with the shelf being provided with one or more apertures registering with the flue 32 of each core. Along the junction between the inner pipe 18 and the inner shell 26 the lower edge of the pipe 18 may be cut away to provide an opening 33 to allow convection currents of air to come into contact with the outer surface of the resistance element 14.

In operation air coming into'conta-ct with the heating element rises upwardly within the passageway19 and is discharged into the room. At the same time a downwardly moving currentot air is induced in the passageway'20, thus drawing cool air from the room and discharging the same through the-flue 32 of the heating element and through opening 33, as .shown by the arrows. In this way a continuous circulation of air is established so that the thermal frequency of the system will be relatively high. In order to control the amount of heated air being discharged 'into the room the register 10 may be provided with a suitable damper controlled as by means of a hand lever 36, this damper servingflto interrupt the discharge of heated air into the room. A temperature responsive switch 37' may also be provided within the housing 13 to interrupt the current suppliedto the heating element in case the temperature of the air reaches a certain pre determined maximum. Suitable heat insulating material 38 may alsobe placed upon the outer surfaces of the conduit 17 and the housing 13.

The modification shown in Fig. 2 is similar to that described above but difiers with respect to the arrangement of the'heating ele-' ments within the housing 213. In this case the heating elements 14 are shown as being mounted directly below the lower end of the I inner pipe 118. Thus one or more heating elements 14 are shown as mounted upon a suitable bracket 40 whereby theyare spaced from the bottom wall 41 of the housing 213.

These elements are also surrounded bymeans of an inner casing 42 which is joined to the lower end of the inner ipe-118. The space between the inner casing 42 and the outer housing 213 serves to define a passageway 43 communicating with the passagewayv 120 of the conduit 117, and since thecasing 42 terminates short of the bottom wall 4Q, the passageway 43 is in communication with the interior of the casing 42. Air heated bythe;

heating elements 14 is accordingly discharged upwardly through the inner .passageway 119 and a downwardly moving draft of air is induced in the assageway 120, the air circulating downwardly through this passageway, through passa geway'43 and up through the fires-32 of the heating elements and into contact with the outer surfaces of'the same." Additional baflie walls 44 may also be disposed between the casing vent undue heating; of t e outer housing.

In the modification shown in Fig.=3 the conduit 317, instead of beiug'divided into concentric passageways, is divided into two passageways by means of an intermediate partition 4(3,'this partition serving to define a passageway 47 for downwardly moving currents of air and a passageway 48 for upwardly moving currents. The housing 313 for lDt'lOSlUg the heating elements. 14 is providedwith a dividing or baflie wall 49 serving-as an extension of the central partition 48 of the conduit 317. The bailie wall b the heating elements is caused to be dis-- ciarged into the room through passageway 48, while cool air is caused to flow down= :wardly from the room through passageway 47 and into the bottom of the compartment '50. As with the construction previously described, the conduit 317 and the/housing 313 may be provided with suitable heat insulating material 52 and similar material 53'may be applied to the intermediate partition 46.

For purposes of ventilation it is frequently desirable to introduce a limited amount of fresh air into the device. Thus in Fig. 1 there is shown a conduit 50 communicating at its one-end with a supply of fresh air and at its other end with passageway 20. The amount of fresh air introduced is controlled by means of a damper 51 and rod 52, the rod projecting through the grillor register 10.

necessitates practically no building altera- The installation of a heater of this type a tions, assuming that the room has previous- 1y been equipped with a grill for a fuel burning air furnace. Furthermore, the walls of the room need not be wired since connections are made in the basement. All the advantages of economical operation'are secured by the air circulation feature.

Weclaim: 1-. .1. An electrical device for heating. air within a room of a building comprising a register opening into said room, a housing located a substantial distance below the floor ofsaid room, an electrical heating element within said l1ous1ng, and a plurality of extended passageways connecting said register and housing, one of said passageways serving toconduct a hot upwardly moving current of air from said housing to said room,

and another of said passageways serving to conduct a downwardly moving current of cool air from the room to the housing, said downward current being induced solely by I i said upward current. 42vand the outer housin 213 in order to pre- 2. An electrical device for heatin air w thin a room of a building eomprislng a I of the floor of said room,

flues defined by the walls 0t said housing,

' register opening into said room, a housing located a substantial distance below the floor of said room, an electrical heating element within said housing, and an extended conduit connecting said-register and housing, said conduit having at least two passageways, one of the passageways serving to con-, duct a hot upwardly moving current of air from the housing to the room, and another of said passageways serving to conduct adownwardly moving current of cool air I from the room to the housing, said downward current being induced solely by the upward current.

3. An electrical device for heatin air within a room of a building comprislng a register. opening into said room, a housing located adjacent a floor below said room, an electrical heating element disposed within said housing, a pluralit of extended-passageways connecting said ter, one of said passageways serving to conduct a heated upwardly moving current of air from the housing to the roonr, said current of air beingcaused solely by said heating element, and another conduit-serving to conduct a downwardly moving current'of air from the room to the'housing, said downwar'dly-moving current being induced solely by said upwardly moving current.

' 4. An electrical device for heating air within a Room of building co n' prising a register opening into said room; a' housin' located a substantial distanceflbelowl the evel 5. An electrical device for heating housing and regis a plurality. of

saidflues communicating with each other adjacent the bottom of the housing, an electrical heating. element disposed within one 'ofsaid flues, and an extended conduit con- .register opening into said room, conduit extending downwardly from said register, said conduit having a plurality of passages, said passages opening thru oneside of said cone duit nearthe lower portion of the same, a l'lOllSlIlg secured to said one side of said conduit, said housing having an upstand ing inner wall serving to define a passage communicating with one passage of the con-.

duit, another portion of said housing being 1n communlcation with another passage oi said conduit, and electrical heating means positioned within saidhousing and serving to'efiect downward and upward movement of air thru said conduit'and circulation of air thru said'housing.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

ARTHUR J. KEROHER. WILLIAM WESLEY HICKS. 

